Description of Related Art
Tires used today on bicycles may generally be divided into two categories, solid rubber tires and inflatable tires. Solid rubber tires are advantageous in some applications because the bicyclist never experiences a flat tire, since solid tires do not rely on an inflated inner tube for support. However, solid rubber tires provide the bicyclist with a generally uncomfortable ride and poor response characteristics under adverse conditions, such as uneven surfaces. Further, the mass or weight of the solid rubber tire makes it unsuitable for racing, cross-country and mountain bicycling applications where weight reduction is an essential consideration.
Mountain bicyclists and racing bicyclists use inflatable tires in order to take advantage of the more desirable response characteristics inherent in inflatable tires, such as being light weight and the more comfortable ride provided by inflatable tires. Inflatable tires on bicycles require the use of an air tight inner tube which installed within a hollow portion of the tire and inflated to a desired air pressure. Such inner tubes often develop leaks. Therefore, a bicyclist often must repair the inner tube of the tire.
Further, if the bicycle goes over a sharp object or hits a rock with sufficient force, the inner tube may split due to the impact. Such splits are commonly known as pinch flats in the bicycle industry. Pinch flats are one of the most common mechanical failures serious bicyclist encounter when riding or racing. When a tire impacts on a rigid surface, the tire and inner tube are crushed between the rigid surface and the rigid rim of the bicycle wheel. Typically, the ply or multi-layer construction of the tire helps to prevent significant damage to the tire itself.
The inner tube, on the other hand, is often split resulting in a pinch flat.
Inner tubes are typically made of a generally soft, pliable, air tight rubber material. Impact between the rigid surface and the rim is often sufficient to cause the soft pliable rubber material inner tube to split. If a pinch flat is severe enough or large enough, it can be difficult to repair the inner tube and it must be completely replaced. As a consequence, mountain bicyclists and racing bicyclists typically carry one or two spare inner tubes with them in addition to an inner tube repair kit. Often, even though the split or pinch flat in the inner tube is large and may be impossible to repair, the tire itself may remain relatively undamaged.
The inventor is unaware of any bicycle tires, other than solid tires, which do not require an inner tube for inflation of a bicycle tire.
Tubeless tires are well known in the automotive industry, but such tires have vastly different dimensions, response characteristics, and construction than bicycle tires. Tubeless automotive tires are typically extremely heavy, having steel cords and other reinforcing materials therein. The technology of automotive tubeless tires requires much different considerations from those of bicycle tires. Bicycle tires, in particular bicycle tires used in racing and mountain bicycle applications, are light weight and have extremely thin side walls and treads compared to automotive tires. It is also desirable for such bicycle tires to be relatively flexible to provide good responses when riding over a rough surface. Further, bicyclist typically repair their tires themselves, in particular while racing and when bicycling in the mountains or cross-country. The configuration of automotive tubeless tires, in particular the tire beads, are such that they generally cannot be maintained, repaired or removed from the rim by a driver. Repair of automotive tubeless tires usually requires expensive mounting equipment and compressed air to seat the tire bead on the automotive wheel rim. Further, the geometry of an automotive tire, in particular the relationship between the diameter of the tire to the diameter of the rim, make automotive tubeless tire configurations unsuitable for bicycle applications.